Sports Columnists

By catlady

July 19, 2006 11:50 AM | Link to this

God help this poor man! He will end up much sadder and wiser. Our poor, rural school system is spending over a million dollars to update the stadium press box and field house (one h.s. in county) but we don’t have money for books!

By Boo

July 19, 2006 12:04 PM | Link to this

Whether it’s true or not, the Auburn “scandal” is merely another example of why “big-time” college athletics are among the most hypocritical elements of our society.

To wit: on one hand, college presidents and boosters say, “We want our players to graduate, and we want them to stay out of the police report.”

However … if the players graduate and stay out of the police report … but the team goes 6-5 (or worse) … then the coach is out of a job.

The bottom line: if “big-time” college coaches would recruit only student-athletes who actually have the ability and desire to obtain a degree, then many of the scandals (academic and otherwise) that plague college sports would disappear.

By Nate

July 19, 2006 12:20 PM | Link to this

I’m surprised this professor has not been attacked physically yet! With the violence that occurs in trailer parks through out the state of Alabama because of football games (accounts for 10 deaths a year, 12 are predicted this year with the extended regular season). This poor guy needs protection.

By Nate

July 19, 2006 12:22 PM | Link to this

I’m surprised this professor has not been attacked physically yet! With the violence that occurs in trailer parks through out the state of Alabama because of football games (accounts for 10 deaths a year, 12 are predicted this year with the extended regular season). This poor guy needs protection.

By Rock Preston

July 19, 2006 12:22 PM | Link to this

Hypocrisy at it’s truest form. There is certain element in society that will go to any lengths to win! Are any of us surprised? It goes on in life all of the time.

By Nate

July 19, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this

I’m surprised this professor has not been attacked physically yet! With the violence that occurs in trailer parks through out the state of Alabama because of football games (accounts for 10 deaths a year, 12 are predicted this year with the extended regular season). This poor guy needs protection.

By sarccastik frankie

July 19, 2006 12:43 PM | Link to this

this is a problem that’s been going on for awhile….this is nothing new, i’m sure you can note every MAJOR D1 school has had problems in this area. I’m “blowed” away that the people are shocked that this happens. I’m from Birmingham, Alabama there won’t be any physical violence but boy i can “GUARANTEE” that his home address has been publicly known…

By Alan Evans

July 19, 2006 01:01 PM | Link to this

Well, at least THIS TIME our distinguished Mr. Moore didn’t weave racism into his comments.

Independent study courses are on the books at every university in the country. And yes, some faculty abuse these as a way to help out students with grade issues. Auburn had a professor who did this, and students (including some athletes) took advantage of it.

Wouldn’t even be known if it weren’t for a) a disgruntled faculty colleague and b) Auburn kicking Alabama’s a*s four years in a row, and c) a newspaper full of Alabama alumni who decided to use a) in an attempt to remedy b).

Terrence Moore needs to shut up.

By SoCal Hal

July 19, 2006 01:10 PM | Link to this

Nate, you are very clever. Trailer Park attacks in Alabama? If you live in Georgia. Don’t forget that you still live in GEORGIA! It’s all the same from where I’m sitting friend.

By Pompano

July 19, 2006 02:03 PM | Link to this

One big difference here though - Jan Kemp never backed down from her allegations where this guy has already retreated.

However, it is Auburn’s turn in the Alabama/Auburn probation rotation.

By SoCal Hal

July 19, 2006 02:11 PM | Link to this

Nate, you are very clever. Trailer Park attacks in Alabama? If you live in Georgia. Don’t forget that you still live in GEORGIA! It’s all the same from where I’m sitting friend.

By GTGD

July 19, 2006 02:12 PM | Link to this

haha, the esteemed Mr Alan Evans is obviously an Auburn fan. funny how he tries to make excuses by blaming the media, the Crimson Tide, the “disgruntled” professor, the “everybody does it” excuse, and T-Moore. the bottom line is a significant number of athletes were being given grades for doing very little work. the red flag may have been when Auburn’s team grades ranked up among schools like Stanford and other more academically-focused schools. get over it, Auburn cheats just like every other SEC school. what an embarrassment.

By mart

July 19, 2006 02:20 PM | Link to this

The real travesty is that colleges consider sociology a true academic discipline.

By yagottabekiddin

July 19, 2006 02:55 PM | Link to this

Slow news day, huh, Terrance? Is this all the esteemed Mr. Moore and the rest of you a*s-clowns can come up with today??? News Flash!!! - some classes are easier than others in all colleges and kids actually try to take some of those easy classes at times!!! Three-quarters of the students taking those independent study courses at Auburn were NOT jocks!!! NOTHING was offered to the jocks that wasn’t available to every other student trying to bring his/her GPA up. This is NOT a story, It’s a hachet job by some twit(s) with an unstated - but painfully obvious - agenda. These I.S. courses are taught in every public university in the US. USC’s Matt Leinert takes a ballroom dancing course to stay eligible last fall, Bama’s Brodie Croyle take an I.S. course that entails one 5-page book report to stay eligible and nobody says boo. What condescending crap!

By yagottabekiddin

July 19, 2006 03:05 PM | Link to this

Nate —- After I realized that your IQ was far exceeded by your shoe size, I decided that rebutting your idiotic comments was a waste of everyone’s time.

By Kevin

July 19, 2006 03:16 PM | Link to this

Unlike the UGA example, this was not an isolated incident that only involved the Athletes. There were over 200 students who took these “Direct Study” courses, with only 18 of them being football players.

Auburn’s football program won’t be put on probabtion by the NCAA. This is an academic problem and the university will deal with it in-house, without the assistance of the NCAA.

By War Eagle

July 19, 2006 03:17 PM | Link to this

These are alleged charges, their is ongoing investigation going on to seek if Auburn football players received benefits while other students did not. Professor Gundlach has already stated their was probably no NCAA sanction involved since more regular students were in classes than athletes…read “Professor will not cooperate in Auburn investigation of grades”. I know all rival schools have their opinion, but before I make any comment, I wiil wait for the results of the investigation. I am a true Auburn man,if finding conclude Auburn did wrong I will be awful disappointed, but will move-on and keep my support strong. As mentioned above UGA went through the same situations and look at them today, so all is possible to achieve when marks are cast upon you.

By johnmrog

July 19, 2006 03:33 PM | Link to this

Hilarious! All the Dawgie homers who have assured me for many years now that Mr. Moore is the biggest moron in the state are now all his best buddies!!!

By Dave

July 19, 2006 03:34 PM | Link to this

The column is sillier and the posts are worse. Anyone following the media in Alabama has discovered that the teacher in question treated nonathletes no better than athletes, and the whistle blower alleges nothing differently. The problem is that the school is easy, not that the athletes got a free ride. It’s just not a sports story, it’s an education story. But some people don’t like jocks, or they don’t like Auburn football, or both.

By JV

July 19, 2006 03:59 PM | Link to this

You’re about 5 days late Terrance. Gundlach has already admitted that this really isn’t an athletic department issue and he only mentioned the athletes in an attempt to gain attention so he could get the administration to make changes in his department. The funny thing is that those changes were made nearly 2 years ago when Dr. Petee was asked to teach fewer directed reading courses. So, congratulations you have latched onto a non-story nearly a week after it was actually non-news (If I can make up a word).

By Barry

July 19, 2006 04:06 PM | Link to this

What was revealed in the aftermath of the Jan Kemp allegations was that faculty gave special treatment to some athletes but not at the driection of any one from the athletic departments and Jan Kemp was a kook. She wasn’t a kook because she made the charges, she was simply a kook who was on her way to being forced out of the university and made the allegations to try and save her low level faculty position. Since that scandal UGA’s standards for student athletes is well above NCAA standards.

By JV

July 19, 2006 04:09 PM | Link to this

Have any of you guys actually read beyond the title of the NYT article? The author claimed in the title that athletes were given something, but there was nothing in the actual article to back it up. The one thing disturbing about it was that one sociology professor had way too heavy of a workload and another couldn’t get anyone to take his classes. What we have is a piece questioning the supervision of the Sociology department at Auburn but wrapped in a bunch of statements condemning athletics only to gain attention.

It is a non-story and anyone trying to make a big deal about it is indicting themselves and their lack of reading comprehension.

By Pompano

July 19, 2006 04:32 PM | Link to this

“Since that scandal UGA’s standards for student athletes is well above NCAA standards”

Come-on Barry… you have to be kidding with that statement. Ever heard of Basketball 101, Tony Cole, etc ???

By Ron

July 19, 2006 04:49 PM | Link to this

Ah…Dave…by saying the “school is easy” are you referring to AU as a whole or the Sociology department. I can’t comment on whether or not Sociology is easy but I can tell you that Electrical Engineering was NOT easy. I never enjoyed any “directed study” courses in the EE department. Painting all the Auburn professors with the same brush (Petee colored) would obviously not be a prudent move. If he has done wrong…as Gundlach claims then fix it (or him) but don’t question the integrity of all of east Alabama because of the actions of one liberal arts professor.

By RPH

July 19, 2006 04:55 PM | Link to this

Kevin,

I believe the class taught at Georgia by Harrick’s son involved other students beyond just athletes. If you think that makes it an Auburn problem and avoids the NCAA, I think your wrong. I would be shocked if the know it all NCAA doesnt at least look into or monitor the investigation by Auburn.

I think UGA did it’s own investigation and told the NCAA and then the NCAA went back and investigated it again. Then they gave out the penalties.

By JB

July 19, 2006 05:00 PM | Link to this

Cool it. Everybody. Let the rabit run and see where this all goes before we jump to any conclusions. You know there could be a cynical professor with an ax to grind. Not all in the academic world are saints.

By JB

July 19, 2006 05:01 PM | Link to this

Cool it. Everybody. Let the rabit run and see where this all goes before we jump to any conclusions. You know there could be a cynical professor with an ax to grind. Not all in the academic world are saints.

By Roswell Jan

July 19, 2006 05:13 PM | Link to this

The school is easy? Just like the Ga CPA Exam is easy? It must be because it only took 1 try at it after getting my AU education. 18 atheletes recieved a total of 97 credit hours from one class 2 yrs ago. 5.4 hrs of credit per athelete. What a scandal?

By reality check

July 19, 2006 05:26 PM | Link to this

The real similarity between Jan Kemp and Gundlach is they are both ugly and have really bad hair.

By Wes

July 19, 2006 06:04 PM | Link to this

S.E.C.: So Everbody Cheats! (Except Vandy)

By tmac

July 19, 2006 08:20 PM | Link to this

Wow, Terence. You actually get paid to put up lame, non-researched articles like this? Man, I need your job. If you had taken longer than five minutes to read the headlines and read the body of work in the numerous articles that have been subsequently written, then you would be ashamed at the shallowness of your work. Then again, maybe you wouldn’t. Sad and pathetic journalism.

By Titus

July 19, 2006 08:59 PM | Link to this

Only in the $EC!!

By Play that funky music whiteboy

July 20, 2006 08:24 AM | Link to this

It’s okay Terence, when your hometown team and my alma mater (Notre Dame) show everyone this season what it means to be a true champion student-athlete, maybe the SEC schools will sit up and take notice. When you have a QB that is the Heisman frontrunner with a dual major in Political Science and Finance, a running back from Georgia whose SAT scores were 1400 and had a 3.8GPA (so good that Richt and the braintrust at UGA didn’t even recruit him) and a graduation rate of 99% for 4 years running. All SEC schools can do is recruit kids who beat up their “nutrition class” professors because they get caught cheating (UGA), punch out students at a pickup basketball game (UT), and too many others to name. When will you Georgia fans finally get fed up with the whole “Bobby Bowden Jr.” act of Richt, Tubberville and others? “Boys will be boys”.

By Brett Scott

July 20, 2006 08:45 AM | Link to this

I’m amazed at the AJC’s ability to take a non-story and try to blow it up into something it’s not. They have had an article everyday this week about this so-called scandal. There is no scandal. There are easy courses at every school. Less than a quarter of the students in this class were athletes. Gundlach is only trying to make a name for himself. This is the same as when teammates go through reporters to attack each other, and it makes the team look bad, but its only the person who couldn’t solve the problem internally who looks bad. Hopefully this will be the last of the AJC’s attempts to make nothing into something. Under Tuberville, academics have been stressed for the football team. Efforts to bring up past transgressions that occurred over 15 years is sad, and not of any importance…here’s to us beating UGA for a third straight year, and Bama for the fifth…War Eagle!

By Brett Scott

July 20, 2006 08:47 AM | Link to this

I’m amazed at the AJC’s ability to take a non-story and try to blow it up into something it’s not. They have had an article everyday this week about this so-called scandal. There is no scandal. There are easy courses at every school. Less than a quarter of the students in this class were athletes. Gundlach is only trying to make a name for himself. This is the same as when teammates go through reporters to attack each other, and it makes the team look bad, but its only the person who couldn’t solve the problem internally who looks bad. Hopefully this will be the last of the AJC’s attempts to make nothing into something. Under Tuberville, academics have been stressed for the football team. Efforts to bring up past transgressions that occurred over 15 years is sad, and not of any importance…here’s to us beating UGA for a third straight year, and Bama for the fifth…War Eagle!

By Moore Cowbell

July 20, 2006 09:30 AM | Link to this

Hey Whiteboy- Welcome back to the top ten!! Been a while for the Golden Misnomers, hasn’t it. Do yourself a favor and clam up, because when Calvin Johnson makes a one handed catch in the end zone with three seconds left to lead Tech to an “improbable” victory, you won’t see the top 10 again for a while.

And for all you Auburn haters, just chew on this. EVERY, and I mean, EVERY school breaks the NCAA rules. Some small and insignificant, some blatant and outrageous. Whether it be in recruiting or just trying to help a kid get his degree. I don’t condone it, but not to acknowledge that it happens at every school…at your school, is the penutltimate of hypocrisy. The only difference is most schools don’t merit any attention. In short, the people on this blog are only arguing about how less black their kettle is than everone elses. Please, just give it up, its pathetic. If Auburn was Mississippi State, nobody would care, and thats the truth. If the professor said “these female volleyball players get by too easy”, nobody would care. This whole episode is much ado about nothing and you know it. The NCAA probably won’t even give it a sniff. You people don’t care about the “academics” or “the kids” or anything else other than you want to beat Auburn on the football field. Please do yourself a favor and get a life…or a better coach, but don’t cry about directed reading and crip courses, as if they are only for the football players at Auburn.

By pitbull

July 20, 2006 10:17 AM | Link to this

Actually Jan Kemp was a kook. The last I heard of her she was sitting in a Cobb County jail for a domestic situation regarding her ex husband and their children whom I believe he was awarded custody over. She appears to have been s somewhat disturbed individual.

As for Jim Harrick, I think the point has been made enough times that he was hired over the wishes of AD Vince Dooley at the insistance of Pres Mike Adams. Even the AJC ran an article questioning who was running the athletic dept after that happened. Mike Adams also waived the hiring of immediate family clause so Harrick Sr could hire Harrick Jr. The Harricks and the Adams pretty much had a standing Saturday night dinner tradition untill Harrick blew it again like he did when he turned in false expense reports at either Pepperdine or Rhode Island. He is a sleazy guy and the UGA people deserved better. UGA folks blame Mike Adams interference with the athletic hiring process for the entire episode, although he never took responsibility for it. That is why UGA people have so little regard and NO respect for him.

By Gene

July 20, 2006 10:22 AM | Link to this

I am a professor at a state college in GA. Everyone in my family attended Auburn, including both of my parents. I think what is allegedly happening at Auburn is happening everywhere in varying degrees. I have seen corruption creeping into higher education over the past 25 years in an alarming manner. Part of the problem is the ridiculous salaries paid to university presidents and administrators. Some of this money comes from athletic-department revenues. Because of obscene salaries, we now have politicians running schools instead of educators. Georgia has three of the highest paid college presidents in the country, with Dr. Patton at GSU leading the list at over $750,000 with Mike Adams right behind him at around $700,000. However, academic achievement in Georgia remains mediocre at best. Education would be better served if this money were directed into instruction. College football is entertaining and brings in huge amounts of money, but what happens between students and professors is what higher education is about. The public and teachers at all levels must take control of this process or things will only get worse.

By johnmrog

July 20, 2006 10:30 AM | Link to this

Yeah! That’s right playthatfunkymusic! Notre Dame (Kimberly Dunbar) is squeaky (Notre Dame booster) clean (embezzled over a million dollars and gave money, gifts, and trips to Notre Dame players and families)!!! You da man!!!

By johnmrog

July 20, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this

Oh, yeah, funkymusic… I forgot! Let’s not forget about that icon of NCAA integrity and fairplay and NOTRE DAME LEGEND Coach Lou Holtz!

You da man!

By War Eagle

July 20, 2006 02:15 PM | Link to this

Gene, I agree with you 100% on salaries throughout University and colleges. I am a former player at Auburn, graduated became a teacher and football coach. This has been some years ago and times have changed especially politics and education. The news media can deliever words as they think and opinionate without being accountable. I noticed in blogs and forums where people are,put on trial and convicted because it what they read or saw.I personally believe this is a academic resolve, not athletic.